January 23, 2016

Ten years ago: Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Ten years ago today, Arctic Monkeys released Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. This is one of the most solid albums ever released by any artist. Literally every tune on this album has a five-star rating in my library.

The music is so urgent and passionate, the lyrics are so vivid and alive, and the delivery is so direct and earnest. It was such a breath of fresh air when this album was released. It was just in time for a period of new music discovery in my life and it was one of the two albums that I gave to a friend who was seeking out cool new music from that point of view that "there's no good music coming out any more". The other album was Stars' Set Yourself On Fire.

The album has lasted so well for me, with the songs having not become tired or dated. There are not many albums that come forth from a young band so fully formed and vital. Take a listen to the big singles from the album along with live performances of every song on the entire album. You can see just how close to their live sound Whatever... is when you listen to them live. Awesome.